I really, really hate it when companies try to make it sound like they’re doing you some big favor when they aren’t.
“Hey, you seem like a nice guy. So here’s what I’m going to do for you…” I detest it. Two recent examples come to mind.
Apple
When the agency laptop battery exploded our IT guy took it to the Apple Genius Bar. The “Genius”, after treating our IT guy with 16+ years experience like a 6th grader, said, “Well, these are normally $179 but I’ll replace it for free.” Gee, YA THINK? The conversation should have gone more like this: “Hi. This happened to my laptop. I was…” “Oh, wow. I am so sorry. Yeah, we’ve had problems with these batteries and I’m so sorry this happened. Would you mind waiting a minute while I go to get you a replacement battery?” [After returning with the battery.] “There. This one shouldn’t give you any more trouble. Let’s turn on the laptop and make sure there wasn’t any damage. Working? OK, good. Again, I’m really sorry for this happening. I know it’s not much, but I’d be happy to offer you a $5 iTunes gift card for your trouble.” Instead of acting like some self-righteous, faux-benevolent retail cog he should have been apologizing profusely. THE PRODUCT EXPLODED after all.
Comcast
When I got out of the shower and walked into my bedroom to get dressed last week I saw the shadows of two guys against the blinds. Creepy. I got dressed in the bathroom. A few minutes later at about 8:30 there was a phony-sounding “tap-tap-tuh-tap-tap…tap-tap” at my front door. It was the guy who’d been lurking outside my bedroom window! Just who I wanted to see as I was walking out the door to go to work! He explained that I was getting more channels than I was paying for. I was aware of this as we had called Comcast and told them but it apparently took them three years to get around to checking it out. The short version (yes, there is a longer version which I will most likely write about later) is after lurking outside my bedroom window unannounced, knocking on my door at 8:30 in the morning and then trying to do a high-pressure upsell he had the nerve to say, “You’ve been really nice about this. [Note: I've said about four words the entire time.] I can give you the premium (or standard, or whatever it was) service for $29.99 for six months.” Don’t BS me, jerk. Comcast advertises their “$X for Y months” promotions all the time. Don’t act like you’re being all nice to me and making some giant concession on my behalf when you’re really just trying to score some kind of commission for yourself. I’ll end here. But, like I said, more later on the Comcast bit. Image courtesy of here.
No Trackbacks
You can leave a trackback using this URL: http://www.theotherdrummer.com/2010/02/i-hate-it-when-companies-do-that/trackback/
8 Comments
Great posting!On Apple – that’s what they always do at the Apple Store. They try to make customers think that they are getting some great deal. Every time I have been to the bar they say something like, well we are not supposed to…or it would normally cost this…but we will do it for free. It works well for some people but for those of use that have more experience with how those things work it is a little patronizing. But alas, they do actually have more ability to do these types of free swaps than a 3rd party reseller does such as MacDocs.On Comcast – I had a very similar situation. A guy came knocking on the door dressed in what almost looked like workman clothes. He was really just a salesman. He said Comcast was doing digital upgrades in the area and wanted to make sure my service was not disconnected. (Haven’t we all been on digital for years anyway??) Then he starts looking at this paper and talking about how I use their high speed internet service (I only use their Internet, I get my TV through DirecTV) and said looks like you are on the promotion for the Internet. How is that working out for you? Blah, blah, we can offer you tv and phone for our “special” promotional rate, blah blah.
I have yet to have a solidly positive interaction with a Comcast technician or service person. I have to call them every few months because my service cuts out, and the usually try to upsell me to digital voice. Which is nonsense—I already lost my internet and TV; why would I want to lose phone as well?
I’ve noticed that customer support represenatives tend to treat my wife like an idiot, but they stop once I show up. Anyone else ever had this problem?
And I never go to the Genius Bar. When I have trouble with a Mac, I just call Ryan. Its easier!
I. Hate. Comcast.
I had an experience just like this at the Apple Store last weekend. I had a laptop whose battery died just weeks before the end of the warranty. They replaced it as I expected them to, no problem. That was 5 months ago.Now for the past month my battery has been dying quickly and i get a warning that says “service battery”. When I took it into the store, I told them the battery only worked for 3-4 months (and i was hoping they would replace it even though my warranty is expired now). Anyway, apparently I didn’t mark down the exact day that I replaced my battery and the “genius” woman told me that actually it has been 5 months not 3-4 like I told her. She was publicly accusing me in the store!Now, I thought this was going to be her excuse for not replacing the battery (which technically they are not obligated to do, it is outside the 90 day warranty of the battery and even the extended 3 year computer warranty), but she then followed up the sentence by saying that they will replace the battery at no-cost… I breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately shrieked when I heard the next words out of her mouth were: “again, this is a 5 month old battery, not 3 months like you told us before.”. This woman had the guts to accuse me again despite the fact that she just promised me a new battery. After that, she had to get her manager to approve the transaction and one last time repeated her accusation that I was somehow trying to mischievously fool her.When I left the store I looked at the repair bill. I noticed that I was issued the battery on the last day of October. 4 months and 1 day (technically less since february was only half over). This is exactly what I said, 3-4 months. She counted that one extra day as a whole month and 3 times accused me of being misleading. I felt like a criminal and although received a new free battery couldn’t help but be upset at how I was treated. If she is already going to give me the battery she might as well make it as positive of an experience as possible for me. The cost to the company is the issuing of a new battery, being nice on top of it costs nothing. Here I was upset with my experience despite the fact that Apple actually went above and beyond by issuing me a $129 battery at no cost outside of the warranty period.
Michael and I have a system when it comes to companies and their screw ups with our service. Its kind of like our parenting really; one of us is the good cop and one of us is the bad cop. Mike’s the good cop. He’ll call the first time and talk politely to the customer service rep and if they are actually smart enough to fix things the first time (which they never are) then they don’t have to deal with me. We write everything down date, time, names, reference numbers, etc… so that when I call I can be less nice and more demanding. It’s a bad thing if you have to hear from me. Comcast, Qwest, At&t, and AOL are the worst at costumer service and have had to deal with me in the past.Jeff Stevens- As a woman I have encountered this MANY times in all different areas of life. When we rented and had to have the handy man come fix something they would say to me, “I have to replace… or I fixed it…” which was ALWAYS followed by “tell your husband to give me a call and I will explain it to him.” WHAT? I’m not stupid! But I have learned that if the car needs to go in and have maintenance work done that Michael has to take it in because mechanics see that I’m a woman with blonde hair and either try to tell me more needs to be fixed or change the prices on me and charge me more. For some reason they don’t do that to Mike!?! My recommendation for your wife is to always make it known (if its true or not) that she’s the one that takes care of all the purchasing and bill paying in the house and they’ll start taking her seriously!
Wow. Great comments. Thanks everyone.